Stationery tray

ABSTRACT

The specification discloses a stationery tray for use in office desks or the like, the tray having a movable back wall forming a paper stop to vary the depth of the tray to thereby accommodate various-size papers. The paper stop is formed with tabs at its base for engaging slots formed in the floor of the tray and integrally formed resilient spring arms having tabs thereon for engaging slots in inwardly projecting side lips on the upper part of the tray.

United States Patent 11 1 Bruins 1111 3,868,020 Feb. 25, 1975 STATIONERY TRAY [75] Inventor: Roger C. Bruins, Jenison Township,

[52] US. Cl 211/126, 211/184, 220/223 [51] Int. Cl. A47f 3/14, B65d 1/24 [58] Field of Search 211/126, 184; 220/22, 22.1,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 831,024 9/1906 Burrage 220/223 1,738,419 12/1929 Burger FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 64,929 7/1955 France 220/222 Primary ExaminerPau1 R. Gilliam Assistant ExaminerAndrew M. Calvert Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Price, Heneveld, Huizenga & Cooper [57] ABSTRACT The specification discloses a stationery tray for use in office desks or the like, the tray having a movable back wall forming a paper stop to vary the depth of the tray to thereby accommodate various-size papers. The paper stop is formed with tabs at its base for engaging slots formed in the floor of the tray and integrally formed resilient spring arms having tabs thereon for engaging slots in inwardly projecting side lips on the upper part of the tray.

1,832,158 11/1931 Vance 3,612,337 10/1971 Harger 220/223 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 3 PA I .-,1 F 1 I I/ 1 1 G ZZ /g M E /Z /Z0 5 l Z0 l //a V a /a\ za 10 STATIONERY TRAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In prior art stationery trays, the tray typically includes a fixed back wall, the depth of the tray being sufficient to accommodate the longest size paper to be stored therein. When short paper sizes are stored, a specially adjustable paper stop engaging the floor of the tray in elongated fore and aft slots may be employed to vary the depth of the tray. In other prior art arrangements, special fillers or blocks of wood or styrofoam are positioned against the back wall of the tray to take up the excess depth..The first example, while suitable for many applications, does not lend itself to high volume and economical production in that thetray includes a back wall. The paper stop mechanisms are usually complex and also uneconomical. Some require the annoying use of holding pins or the like. The paper stop can skew or twist in the slots with respect to the base making the paper stored therein difficult to remove. In the case of fillers or blocks, when not in use they tend to become misplaced. When the tray is used without the tiller, smaller sizes of paper are difficult, if not impossible, to remove.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the above-noted difficulties of prior art structures in its provision of a stationery tray having an adjustable back wall, rather than a fixed back wall, to vary the depth of the tray. The tray includes a floor and a pair of sidewalls from which extend a pair of inwardly directed lips. The lips and floor includes a plurality of aligned rows of tabreceiving slots each row being adapted for engagement with tab members positioned on the adjustable back wall. Tabs on the base of the back wall are received in the floor member while tabs on the upper portion of the back wall are carried on resilient arm members which urge the tabs into engagement with the slots formed in w the lips. The arms are resiliently biased and may easily be biased downwardly such that the tabs move out of engagement with the slots in the lips whereby the back wall can be repositioned in any one of the several aligned rows to thereby adjust the depth of the tray.

Thus, the back stop for paper is the back wall of the tray. It always remains with the tray in use and thus will not be misplaced. Yet, the adjustable mechanism is extremely convenient and economical to manufacture.

The many objects and advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art as the invention becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the paper tray with the back wall fixed in a first position;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view similar to FIG. 1 with the back wall fixed in a second position;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the paper tray illustrating the back wall positioned therein;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the back wall removed from the paper tray;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along plane V -V of FIGIl illustrating the mounting of the back wall on the floor of the tray; and

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. l-3 of the drawings, the paper tray 10 includes a floor 12, a pair of opposed upstanding sidewalls 14 from which a pair of lips or ledges 16 extend inwardly toward each other generally parallel to floor 12. An elongated paper stop 30 forms an adjust able back wall for the paper tray. Paper stop 30 is provided with tabs along its upper and lower surfaces for engagement in aligned rows of tab-receiving slots 18 formed in the floor and in slots 20 formed in lips 16.

Tray 10 is adapted for off-set angular stacking or ganging relationship with a plurality of similar trays in a desk drawer or the like in a conventional manner well-known to those skilled in the art. To accomplish such off-set stacking, elongated slots 22 are provided in lips 16 to receive tabs not shown, and inwardly. and downwardly directed tabs 24 are provided at the front sides of floor 12 to slip underneath lips 16 of a lower tray. Since the stacking feature is conventional and forms no part of the present invention, further discussion is believed unnecessary.

The tray is made from stamped and formed sheet metal, preferably of about 22-gauge thickness giving it, when formed with side walls 14 and lips 16, sufficient strength and rigidity. Tab-receiving slots 18 and 20 formed in floor 12 and lips 16, respectively, are arranged in aligned rows as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to thereby receive paper stop 30 in any one of the selected rows. Slots 18 preferably are formed to include downwardly sloping areas or ramps 19 forming anentrance from the front of the tray to the slot openings. Ramps 19 serve to guide tabs 38 into slots 18 in a manner to be more fully explained hereinafter.

Referring additionally to FIGS. 4-6, paper stop 30 in cross section is generally in the shape of a 7, the base leg of the 7 forming a wall 34. Tabs 38 depend downwardly from wall 34 and are spaced across the elongated length of paper stop 30 a distance corresponding to the spacing between slots 18 in floor 12. The top of the paper stop (the upper arm of the 7) forms a flange 32 extending along the length of wall 34. Wall 34 has a cutaway portion 36 at each end thereof to form resilient fingers 40 at the ends of flange 32. The outermost ends of the fingers include integrally formed, upwardly extending tabs 42 which are adapted to engage slots 20 in lips 16 of the tray. Comparing FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be noted that fingers 40 and the tabs 42 carried thereby are biased upwardly because of the resilient nature of the material from which paper stop 30 is formed. Accordingly, when paper stop 30 is positioned in tray 10, the fingers are biased upwardly toward lip 16.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when paper stop 30 is positioned in tray 10, tabs 38 are positioned in slots 18 and tabs 42 on fingers 40 engage slots 20 in lips 16. Preferably, paper stop 30 is positioned such that wall 34 is oriented at an acute angle with respect to floor 12 and the front of the tray so that papers stored therein will be feathered at their outermost edge to facilitate removal of individual sheets.

Paper stop 30 is inserted in tray 10 by simply sliding tabs 38 along floor 12 from the front until tabs 38 guided by ramps 19 engage slots 18 in a selected row of aligned slots 18 in the floor. The paper stop is then pivoted or rocked upwardly so that tabs 42 on arms 40 engage the inner surfaces of lips 16 biasing the arms downwardly until tabs 42 snap into place in slots 20. The paper stop is then securely fixed in place. Removal of the paper stop is accomplished by light finger pressure on arms 40 causing tabs 42 to disengage from slots 20 thereby allowing easy removal and repositioning of paper stop 30. It will be noted that tab 38 and slots 18' are off-set somewhat from the exact center of paper stop 30 and tray 10, respectively, to avoid the possibiliy of paper stop 30 being positioned in the tray in a reversed position. Because of this feature, wall 34 will always maintain an acute angle with respect to floor 12 and the front of the tray.

In view of the above description, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention provides an economical yet very reliable stationary tray having an extremely efficient and adjustable back wall by which papers of varying sizes may be accommodated in a very efficient manner. The advantages of the stationary tray reside not only in its ease and convenience of adjustment but also in its extremely economical manufacture.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, it will be readily appreciated that many other modifications can be made in the light of the foregoing disclosure. Accordingly, these modifications are to be considered as included in the appended claims unless these claims by their language expressly state otherwise.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or priviledge is claimed are defined as follows:

1. in a stationery tray comprising a bottom wall and an upwardly projecting side wall at each side thereof, and a movable paperstop for said tray, said movable paperstop including releasable securing means for cooperating with said tray whereby said paperstop can be positioned in said tray at various positions along the securing means on said resilient fingers includes upwardly extending tab members on the ends of said fingers; tab-receiving slots formed in said lips, said resilient fingers urging said tabs into engagement with said tab-receiving slots in said lips to thereby hold said paper stop in position.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 and further inr eluding downwardly extending tabs on said wall mem ber; and second tab-receiving slots formed in said floor toreceive said downwardly extending tabs.

length thereof, thereby making it possible to adjust the depth of said tray, the improvement comprising: said paperstop being defined by an elongated wall member,

said wall member having a cross section generally in the shape of a 7, the base leg of the 7 forming a back wall for said paper tray and the top thereof forming a flange; said wall member including a cutaway portion at each end thereof between said base leg and said flange to thereby form resilient fingers at the ends of said flange; said releasable securing means being 4. The. combination of claim 3 wherein said base leg defined back wall of said paper stop, when positioned in said tray, is positioned at an acute angle with respect to said floor and the front opening of said tray whereby papers stored therein will be feathered at their outermost edges to facilitate removal.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said lips and said floor each include a plurality of said firstmentioned tab-receiving slots and said second tab: receiving slots therein, respectively, said slots in said floor and in said lips being arranged in aligned rows at predetermined positions along the length of said tray whereby said wall member may be selectively positioned therein to vary the depth of said tray.

6. The stationery tray of claim 5 in which each of said slots in said floor of said stationery tray includes a rear wardly and downwardly sloping ramp at the front thereof whereby said downwardly extending tabs are guided into said slots as said paperstop is moved rearwardly in said tray.

7. The stationery tray of claim 6 in which said slots in said floor are spaced at irregular intervals with respect to one another, said intervals corresponding to the spacing of said'tabs on said paperstop, whereby said paperstop can only be positioned in said stationery tray with its front side facing front.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said stationery tray is open at the front and back whereby. said movable paper stop defines the only back wall for:

the tray. 

1. In a stationery tray comprising a bottom wall and an upwardly projecting side wall at each side thereof, and a movable paperstop for said tray, said movable paperstop including releasable securing means for cooperating with said tray whereby said paperstop can be positioned in said tray at various positions along the length thereof, thereby making it possible to adjust the depth of said tray, the improvement comprising: said paperstop being defined by an elongated wall member, said wall member having a cross section generally in the shape of a 7, the base leg of the 7 forming a back wall for said paper tray and the top thereof forming a flange; said wall member including a cutaway portion at each end thereof between said base leg and said flange to thereby form resilient fingers at the ends of said flange; said releasable securing means being formed on each said resilient finger at each end of said paperstop; said tray including a pair of lips extending inwardly from said side walls thereof, said securing means on said resilient finger cooperating with said lips to thereby hold said paperstop in place; said resilient fingers resiliently biasing said securing means upwardly into engagement with said lips from the underside of said lips to thereby secure said paperstop in said tray.
 2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said securing means on said resilient fingers includes upwardly extending tab members on the ends of said fingers; tab-receiving slots formed in said lips, said resilient fingers urging said tabs into engagement with said tab-receiving slots in said lips to thereby hold said paper stop in position.
 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 and further including downwardly extending tabs on said wall member; and second tab-receiving slots formed in said floor to receive said downwardly extending tabs.
 4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said base leg defined back wall of said paper stop, when positioned in said tray, is positioned at an acute angle with respect to said floor and the front opening of said tray whereby papers stored therein will be feathered at their outermost edges to facilitate removal.
 5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said lips and said floor each include a plurality of said first-mentioned tab-receiving slots and said second tab-receiving slots therein, respectively, said slots in said floor and in sAid lips being arranged in aligned rows at predetermined positions along the length of said tray whereby said wall member may be selectively positioned therein to vary the depth of said tray.
 6. The stationery tray of claim 5 in which each of said slots in said floor of said stationery tray includes a rearwardly and downwardly sloping ramp at the front thereof whereby said downwardly extending tabs are guided into said slots as said paperstop is moved rearwardly in said tray.
 7. The stationery tray of claim 6 in which said slots in said floor are spaced at irregular intervals with respect to one another, said intervals corresponding to the spacing of said tabs on said paperstop, whereby said paperstop can only be positioned in said stationery tray with its front side facing front.
 8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said stationery tray is open at the front and back whereby said movable paper stop defines the only back wall for the tray. 